Avoid Boring People - Avoid James Watson

"Avoid Boring People: And other lessons from a life in science, by James D. Watson"

I read this book, James Watson's autobiography, a few days ago. It was not very good, and it didn't particularly raise my respect for James Watson as a person or a scientist. The format of the book is the best thing about it - each chapter represents a stage in his life and at the end of each chapter a list of lessons and advice with a short explanation is given. Some of the advice is pretty good - if you plan to look through this book then just read the lessons that are relevant to you - no point in reading the whole thing...

James Watson's autobiography makes it blatantly clear that he did not struggle very hard to get where he is. He and his parents were middle class and he did not have any emotional or money trouble. He didn't have any family problems. He was intelligent and did well in school and met all the required grades to get into the colleges and universities and he never had any problems funding any of this. He never failed at anything he did and was never forced to take any unsavoury career routes or make any large compromises. Also he barely mentions anything about politics or the state of the nation and its affects on him.

He was always in education or in employment and he always had something to do and everyone around him supported him. The universities he worked for paid him well and funded all his research without debate (and this was before he discovered the structure of DNA). His choice of research was in the best field of its time (and now) - genetics. He gives advice concerning this along the lines of: Pick a research subject on the cutting edge of science. He says that picking a subject that has been studied extensively already or has little to contribute to humanity is not beneficial to an active scientist's career. I agree with him and can think of quite a few fields in science where funding should be cut off. But the point he was making is that if you plan to be a highly successful researcher, discover lots of new things and perhaps get recognition and/or a nobel prize, look at a subject where you explore uncharted territory that is beneficial to man (and could make you money).

As for his personal life, what can I say except that he never divulges anything about personal relationships with women or even his close friends (if he even had really close friends). He never mentions a single disagreement or serious debate he had with any person either personal or professional. He met with some of the most eminent scientists like Renato Dulbecco, Linus Pauling, Rosalind Franklin and a few others I've forgotten the names of, but he never mentions their personalities, quirks or how he interacted with them. Going back to his dealing with women... what women? He did not form any deep relationships with individuals and I think he remained a virgin till marriage or something - heck, he doesn't mention anything concerning emotions or attractions. He never had "women trouble" and he married one of his assistants because "when she wasn't there he missed her presence". He doesn't mention the courtship period or his anxieties or emotional strife (if any). Lazy & Boring.

As for discovering the structure of DNA he does something honorable - he mentions the highly significant amd neccessary contribution of Rosalind Franklin with her stunning X-Ray Crystallography photos and suggestions. He also mentions the point that other scientists rejected Linus Pauling's hurried publication of a paper in nature in 1953 which made them drop the idea of a triple helix and that other scientists' work in the field pointed them towards base pairing with the bases on the inside with the backbone forming a winding ladder on the outside. It was Franklin's photo that showed an X-like striations in the middle that made them sure that they were on the right path with base pairing on the inside. One irritation in this chapter of the book is that I learn next to nothing about Francis Crick. Yes he mentions him as his partner in this and his work being key to the discovery, but he doesn't mention anything about him as a person.

The genious behind the discovery of the DNA double helix structure was their using templates, initially paper cutouts, to fit together and see if the distances between the atoms in the molecules were acceptable. The fact that they used cutouts and arranged them in different ways is how they got to the answer. Sometimes visualisation is the key to discovery - imagine a large table of numerical values - as a table it might not look like there is a pattern in the data but once you plot it on a chart/graph and perhaps carry out a function on it, then you can discover a pattern and even model it. You would find it very hard to discover a trend just dealing with a list of numbers.

Nothing else is particularly interesting after that. He doesn't make any massive blunders, nor has he any serious problems. Yeh, he won a nobel prize which he was happy to get but a nobel comes quite a few years after the discovery and the scientist has moved on to a different challenge by then. He was happy to receive it but not extatic.

In summary, it's not a good book if you're looking to find out about his personality or personal life - he keeps his cards very close to his chest. He doesn't insult or mock anyone or bring up arguments or debates - either he is very cold emotionally or he wants to play it very safe. He doesn't describe himself, other people in character, quirks or appearance to make it interesting. The most controversial thing he ever did happened later on in his life a long time after the publication of this book when he said some things people saw as very racist (see here). If you do plan to look this book up there is no point in reading it fully - look at the photos and read the points at the end of each chapter instead. James Watson decided to call his autobiography "Avoid Boring People" and I agree - avoid James Watson.

I'm currently reading "Next" by Michael Crichton, a fiction book concerning genetics and its misuse. So far so good - I might write a post about this later. I might look at a Linus Pauling book next.